Jack’s Food Blog – 2023

Jack's Food Blog – Reviews, Recipes and Cooking Tips

    Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya Recipe

    Chicken Chorizo Jambalaya is the ultimate in comfort food. It’s warming, rich and tasty, and is packed with flavour from a mix of chorizo, veg and spices.

    This jambalaya recipe will take around and hour and a half to prepare and cook, and will easily feed four people. It’s as amazing re-heated as it is fresh.

    This is a recipe where there are a fair few ingredients to prepare, but it also takes a lot of concentration once the frying gets underway. For that reason, I find it’s beneficial to give yourself plenty of prep time to get the ingredients together before cooking, then you can relax and enjoy once you get down to it.

    What is Jambalaya?

    Jambalaya is a recipe originating from a real hotch-potch of cultures, so you can find it all over the world. It’s got flavours from African, French, and Spanish cooking, and is based on meat and vegetables and rice. You’ll usually find some kind of sausage in Jambalaya, as well as seafood, making it popular in coastal regions. My Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya recipe is made without seafood; with flavourful chicken thigh and chorizo balanced with the freshness of celery, spring onions and green peppers.

    Ingredients

    • 100g chorizo
    • 6-8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
    • 225g any type of rice
    • 2 green peppers and 1 red pepper
    • 2 small onions
    • 3 large sticks of celery
    • 6 spring onions
    • 6 large, ripe tomatoes, skinned (click here to see how).
    • 1 teaspoon tomato puree
    • 2 cloves of garlic
    • 2 jalapeno chillis
    • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or a teaspoon if using the dried version
    • 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley
    • 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
    • 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
    • 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric
    • 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
    • 2 bay leaves
    • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
    • 1 chicken stock cube
    • Salt and pepper

    Method

    Start by chopping the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then season them well with salt and pepper. Prepare the chorizo too, by taking the skin off and then chopping it into whatever size you like. Before you get to frying the chicken, it’s also worth getting the other ingredients ready. Roughly chop the onion, celery, jalapenos and peppers, and skin the tomatoes. Also, prepare the dry ingredients and mix them with the garlic.

    Time to cook! Heat a tablespoon of olive oil at a medium heat in a large pan or casserole, then seal the chicken in with the chorizo and jalapenos. This should take about 5 minutes. Once you’ve done this, remove everything from the pan, but leave the juices, as you’ll cook the veg in these. Now add the chopped celery, onion and peppers. Cook this for around 10 minutes until it’s all starting to nicely soften up.

    Next, add all the thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, parsley, turmeric, chopped garlic and paprika. Cook this for 3 or so minutes, then re-add the chicken and chorizo, along with any juices which have gathered. Prepare the stock at this point; in terms of strength, dissolve one stock cube in about a pint of water.

    Add the tomatoes and tomato puree, then about a minute later, add your rice and mix thoroughly. This can stick very easily so be careful. Cook this for about a minute, then add the stock. Let this simmer until the rice is cooked. At this point, you’re nearly ready to go.

    5 minutes before you want to serve the meal, add the spring onions and parsley (chopped of course), then heat these for no more than 3 minutes. Then turn the heat off and you’re ready to go. Serve with a strong beer or red wine to cut through the fatty flavour.

    Thanks for reading! If you like a one-pot dish, can I also recommend my original pasta sauce and Moroccan chicken recipes.

    4 responses to “Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya Recipe”

    Leave a comment

    Latest Posts